


Mates for Life?

by Destielshipper4Cas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Dean, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Bottom Castiel, Happy Ending, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Castiel, Omega Verse, Scent Bonding, Top Dean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-15 12:06:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18498622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destielshipper4Cas/pseuds/Destielshipper4Cas
Summary: Castiel’s true mate, Michael, has been on the run from the law for the last couple of years. He didn’t treat Castiel well, even when they had been together, so Castiel is relieved that their bond is broken, even though it leaves him with a feeling of loss and longing for something he can’t quite put his finger on. Still, he has no intention of finding a new mate since he has a hard time trusting alphas as well as his own nose.Enter undercover cop Dean, who is on Michael’s case and tries to find out what Cas knows about his true mate’s whereabouts.The mutual attraction is immediate, but with Cas’ past and Dean’s secrets neither of them have any idea what they’re in for.





	1. Chapter 1

Castiel hadn’t been in a night club in years and he was quickly reminded of why that was. Way too many alphas on the prowl—alphas who thought they were God’s gift to the world and didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘No.’

He was nursing a beer at the bar, head down, trying to fly under the radar while he was waiting for his brother. He should never have agreed to meet Gabriel here. It was probably a ploy to get him out more, get him to meet someone. To top it all off, Gabriel was running late—probably on purpose.

So far, Castiel had declined three drinks from three different alphas and he was close to texting Gabriel and getting the hell out of this rundown hookup joint. He’d give Gabriel five more minutes.

“Hey, gorgeous,” someone drawled as he sat down on the stool next to him, setting his own beer down on the bar. “Mind if I buy you another one?”

“I’m mated,” Castiel replied with his standard phrase, not even bothering to look up. He didn’t need to—he knew the type when a waft of confident alpha hit him.

“Really?” the alpha asked, disbelief heavy in his voice. “You don’t smell mated.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Castiel saw his nostrils flare, and he was tempted to threaten him with a scent harassment charge.

Castiel finally looked up and was met by green eyes that belonged to the most handsome alpha he had ever laid eyes on. No wonder he wasn’t backing off, he was probably used to omegas falling all over themselves for a chance to be with him. Not that it mattered.

Castiel unbuttoned his collar and loosened his tie. He took delight in the fact that the alpha’s eyes widened. Smirking, Castiel pulled down his shirt a little to show off the mating bite on his neck. That would take care of that.

Just to be on the safe side, Castiel said the two words that would make sure to get the alpha to leave him alone. “True mate.”

With those words, he buttoned up his shirt again and turned back to his beer that was almost empty anyway. Gabriel’s five minutes were up, too.

“That’s an old bite,” the alpha said. “Hasn’t been renewed in at least seven to ten heats.”

This alpha had got to be kidding him! Usually, alphas backed the hell off when he showed him his mating bite. It didn’t matter how old the bite looked—omegas with a broken mating bond were as undesirable as mated omegas. Plus, the way the alpha had said ‘heats’ as if it were an appropriate topic for discussion made Castiel blush. He chose not to say anything to that, hoping that the alpha would get the hint.

“Your mate die or something?” Again said without any respect for boundaries.

“No,” Castiel said, no idea why he was even still talking to the alpha.

“Wow. Don’t tell me that you’re part of the 0.01 percent of the population who divorces their true mate?”

Castiel sighed and looked up at the alpha again. “Why are you still bothering me?” Better question: Why was he still sitting here, letting himself be bothered?

The alpha shrugged his shoulders and smiled a smile he no doubt considered charming. “You smell nice.”

Castiel snorted at the outdated pick-up line. “I don’t believe in smell.”

The alpha huffed out a laugh. “What? That’s like saying you don’t believe in the sky or in grass. It’s not something you believe in, it just _is_.”

Rolling his eyes, Castiel clarified, “I don’t believe in smell _compatibility_.”

The alpha’s eyes widened yet again as the smirk fell off his face. Castiel started to see the appeal in rattling him. “Are you serious? You had a true mate and you don’t believe in smell compatibility? If not for smell compatibility there would _be_ no true mates.”

“I believe the ones who smell the nicest are the biggest assholes.” He made sure to hold the alpha’s gaze to get the message across.

The alpha didn’t react affronted, though, instead, the smile returned to his face, making his eyes crinkle at the corners. “Aw, did you just say that I smell nice?”

Castiel rolled his eyes—something that he assumed he’d do a lot in this alpha’s presence, and said, “Listen, alpha…”

“Dean.”

“What?”

“Name’s Dean. Nice to meetcha.” He held out his hand for Castiel to shake, and Castiel found himself doing so for some unexplainable reason.

“Castiel.” Why was he giving his real name to some strange alpha?

Normally, people commented on the strange name, but the alpha— _Dean—_ didn’t seem fazed.

“Right,” Castiel tried to get back on track as he let go of Dean’s hand. “I’m just waiting for my brother, so…”

“Well, he doesn’t seem to be here, yet,” Dean interrupted him, motioning for the bartender to bring him another drink.

That’s when Castiel realized why Dean might be so persistent. “Oh my God, are you one of those blind date alphas my brother is trying to set me up with?”

“What? No. Just tryin’ to make small talk.” And there was that smile again that Dean probably thought was charming.

“I get it,” Castiel said harshly, angry at himself that he actually thought the smile was kind of cute. “You’re searching for someone to knot. I can save you the time; that someone isn’t me.”

“Ouch. Burn,” the bartender, a middle-aged bearded alpha, commented, as he was putting another beer in front of Dean.

Dean shot him an incredulous look. “Aren’t you supposed to stay neutral?”

“Sure thing, brother,” the bartender said and walked off towards the other end of the bar, where someone was trying to get his attention.

“Sooo… I guess that means I’m not getting your number?”

Castiel got up and slipped into his trench coat, throwing down enough cash to cover his tab. When he saw something like disappointment on Dean’s face, he said, “I’m sure you know you’re…” He motioned up and down Dean’s body, not sure how to say ‘the hottest alpha alive’ without feeding his ego too much.

“I was just really here to meet my brother and not for… any of that.” He made a vague motion with his hand, hoping that Dean could fill in the crude words Castiel couldn’t bring himself to say.

“Yeah, well. You can’t let a broken mating bond keep you from enjoying your life. So, if you ever want to grab a drink or something...” Dean took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it before tucking it into Castiel’s coat pocket. There was something almost sincere in both, his voice and his eyes. The easy charm was gone and Castiel almost fell for it.

Then he remembered why he didn’t trust good-smelling alphas and he turned around.

“Bye, Cas,” he heard Dean call after him.

On his way out, he threw the piece of paper with Dean’s number into the first trash can he passed by.


	2. Chapter 2

Cops were the worst gossips and so it was no wonder that when Dean arrived at the precinct the next morning, he had to deal with people grinning at him gleefully and whispering behind his back.

“Hey, Winchester. Heard you finally found someone who’s immune to your charm?” Jo called out as soon as she laid eyes on him.

Dean rolled his eyes as he sat down at his desk.

“Maybe you’re getting old,” Ash supplied helpfully from two desks over. “Most omegas nowadays are looking for young, virile alphas.”

“You would know,” Dean retorted. “Last time you got to second base with an omega, your mother was still nursing you.”

That comment had the desired effect as most cops chuckled and turned back to their work.

“Winchester.” Captain Singer nodded at him before disappearing into his office.

Dean sighed and got up to join the captain.

As soon as he closed the door to Captain Singer’s office, he started, “I wasn’t talking trash about omegas, sir… or about Ash’s mother.”

Captain Singer ignored his comment and talked right over him, “I told you to use your charm, not make him run for the hills, idjit.”

Ah, so they were talking about the case. And about how Dean had botched it.

“He doesn’t trust alphas,” Dean justified himself. “How was I supposed to get him to let his walls down?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t’ve come on so strong.” There was another mumbled “idjit,” and then he added, louder, “Jeez, boy, you were supposed to get information, not try and get in his pants. Have you even read the file?”

“His file didn’t say anything about his aversion to alphas,” Dean mumbled. Though it contained Cas’ medical records that suggested Michael had been the kind of mate Dean would love to see behind bars for different reasons than smuggling contraband (which was the only thing they could pin on him so far, even though the list of crimes they suspected him of was considerably longer).

As always, Dean had studied the file on Castiel Novak carefully in preparation. Nothing could have prepared him for that smell, though. Turning on the charm came naturally for him and he couldn’t have held off flirting with Cas if he had tried.

“Why didn’t we send in a beta?” he asked, coming out of his thoughts.

Captain Singer snorted. “’cause you’re the best undercover cop we got.—Or so I thought. Might have to send in a beta now, though. Maybe Talbot.”

Dean snarled. Talbot was a horrible choice. He hadn’t even given this assignment his best shot, and Captain Singer wanted to replace him already?

“Don’t you go baring your teeth at me, boy!”

Oops—had he just done that? “Sorry,” Dean mumbled, embarrassed that he had involuntarily challenged his boss. But then he soldiered on, “I can do this. I got off to a rocky start, sure, but I’ll study the file better… watch the tapes. You said it yourself—I’m the best you got.”

Captain Singer sighed and shook his head. “Don’t make me regret this decision,” he said after a beat of silence.

Dean smiled at him (making sure he didn’t bare his teeth again), thanked him for the chance and left the office, thinking about a way he could ‘accidentally’ bump into Cas again.

Maybe the tapes of Cas’ interrogation shortly after Michael had vanished would give Dean a clue…

 

* * *

 

Castiel was woken by a buzzing sound. He blindly reached for his phone in order to turn off the alarm before he realized that he had the week off and didn’t have to go into the office today. Not the alarm, then.

Blinking his eyes open, he realized that it was the doorbell and heaved himself out of bed. By the time he got to the door, Gabriel had already let himself in.

Castiel pulled his dressing gown tighter and grumbled as a greeting, “Just because you have a key doesn’t mean you should just come and go as you please.”

“You’re not still mad at me about yesterday, are you?” Gabriel asked as he pushed past Castiel into the kitchen. His chipper mood did nothing to appease Castiel.

He watched his brother rummage through the drawers, looking for mugs, and crossed his arms. “Where were you? I was at that sleazy bar for over an hour.”

“I was running a tiny bit late,” Gabriel admitted and let out a triumphant “ha!” when he found his favorite mug. Then he started the coffee machine and added, “But when I arrived, I saw you talking to an alpha—a very handsome one, I might add—and I didn’t want to interrupt your flirting.”

“I wasn’t flirting,” Castiel immediately denied, furrowing his brows as he watched Gabriel make himself at home.

“I haven’t seen you flirt in so long—ever, really—it was very refreshing.”

“I wasn’t flirting,” Castiel repeated.

“Anyway, I saw you make the biggest mistake of your life and rectified it for you. You’re welcome.” He took a crumpled-up, dirty piece of paper out of his back pocket and held it out to Castiel, smiling.

Castiel narrowed his eyes. “Is that…?”

“Yep. I went dumpster diving for my little bro. You owe me big.—Now, where did you put the sugar?” Gabriel shoved the piece of paper into his hands and went back to rummaging through drawers.

Castiel was looking at the piece of paper in his hands incredulously. Sure enough, there was Dean’s phone number.

“I’m not going to call him,” he said. “Which is why I threw this away.” To underline his words, he did it once again.

Gabriel had found the sugar and put it onto the table before fishing the piece of paper out of the trash can _again_.

“Would you stop picking up the things I throw away?” Castiel asked, exasperated.

“You were having a blast, I could tell. There was some twitching around your mouth area that almost looked like a smile. I almost forgot that you were capable of smiling.”

Castiel rolled his eyes, but Gabriel went on, “I’ll make you a deal. You call him, and I won’t bother you again. For at least a couple of months. No trying to set you up, no innuendos about how you need a good lay…”

“Gabriel!”

“See? If you call him, I won’t even be able to say that.”

He poured himself a cup of coffee and then added about a gallon of sugar, smiling at Castiel as if he knew damn well that Castiel couldn’t refuse a deal like that.

Gabriel didn’t wait for Castiel to accept before he said, “Now let’s talk rules.”

 

* * *

 

Dean’s cell phone rang. He was still at the precinct, the last one there, but he wanted to be prepared as to not scare Cas off again when he accidentally met him again. He closed the file he had been flipping through and picked up on the third ring.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want to sleep with you.”

“Uhm…”

“I don’t want to go out with you.”

“This is a very strange phone call. Who is this?”

“Oh. Uhm. Castiel.”

“Who?”

“From the bar last night?”

Dean was about to say, “Doesn’t ring a bell,” but he was close enough to burst into laughter as it was, so he dropped the charade, “Nah, I’m just messing with ya. As if I’d forget that sexy voice.”

“No, see? That is exactly what I’m talking about. I just wanted to make it very clear that that’s not why I’m calling.”

“Okay. So, why’re you calling then if not to flirt with the sexy alpha you picked up last night?” Dean smiled brightly as he waited for an answer.

“I didn’t pick you…” Cas seemed to have realized that Dean was just teasing him because he didn’t finish that thought. Instead, he sighed and then he said, more composed, “My brother…”

“The one you were waiting for?” Dean asked, twirling a pen between his fingers.

“The very same. He offered to back off if I go out on one date with you. Naturally, I thought about just telling him I had done so and be done with it.”

“Naturally,” Dean agreed, a smirk on his face despite himself.

“But he wants proof. A few selfies throughout our night out.—I will reimburse you, of course.” Flustered Cas sounded cute.

“Yeah, you know, Cas? I don’t know. You were pretty rude last night. I don’t know if I want to do you any favors.”

Silence. Maybe Cas hadn’t picked up on the teasing tone of his voice this time. Dean was about to say something else when Cas beat him to the punch, “One hundred dollars.”

“Uhm… what?”

“One fifty. And dinner is on me.”

“Cas, I don’t want your money.”

“Oh.” There was a beat of silence. Then, “That’s all I have to offer.”

“Just… let me decide where we eat and we’ll call it quits,” Dean suggested.

He had way too much fun talking to Cas, so that he had almost forgotten that it was for the case. He told Cas he’d text him the details later and when he hung up, he was in a better mood than he had been in all day.—Because of the case, of course.

Dean had gotten a second chance—he wouldn’t let Captain Singer down.

**Author's Note:**

> comments + kudos = <3  
> (Especially since this is my first a/b/o fic.)


End file.
